BROWN lashed home the only goal of the game in spectacular style and admitted even he was surprised with the outcome of a swinger from his weaker left foot.

SCOTLAND goal hero Scott Brown was pinching himself after smashing a wonder winner for Scotland in Warsaw –
having expected his left-peg swipe to end up in Row Z.

The skipper hit a sensational late effort to give his team a momentum-maintaining win
over Poland in their European Championship qualification dress-rehearsal.

Having
netted the winner against Norway in Molde four months ago, the Celtic ace repeated his heroics last night to give his team a massive shot in the arm ahead of their return to the same stadium on competitive duty in
October.

Gordon Strachan’s
team extended their unbeaten record to five games but Brown admitted his wonder effort could just as easily have been woeful.

However,
captain’s issues were not the main focus for Brown. Winning and the extension of the feelgood factor in the group was the key thing to take from the evening as far as he was concerned.

He said: “The clean sheet was huge for us. If we can keep scoring and defending like we are, it will be good.

“We’ve
laid down a marker ahead of the qualifiers. We got a good look at them and while they were missing a few players so were we. They are a strong,
physical team and probably didn’t play as well as they can, but that was down to us.

“It is a psychological boost for our next visit here. You have to be strong mentally and we were.

“That’s four away wins recently. The manager has found a system and it shows on the pitch.”

Brown’s team-mates were lining up after the game to applaud the stunning strike which settled the contest,
although Ross McCormack admitted his skipper had made the Row Z joke to
his team-mates before the media.

He said: “Scott came into the dressing-room and said himself that his effort could have gone anywhere!

“But he put in a superb performance and can be very proud of a strike like that.

The Leeds United skipper, meanwhile, was pleased to play his part in the victory.

And,
although he knows the Poles will pose a stiffer test for the Scots with
captain Jakub Blaszczykowski and top striker Robert Lewandowski back from injury, he insists
Strachan’s team have given serious notice of their qualification intentions.

The
success made it three on the bounce away from home after wins in Macedonia and Norway and McCormack said: “It was a great result for us and leaves a marker for the qualifier here in October.

“They
will be a different team with Blaszczykowski and Lewandowski but that doesn’t detract from this win. Our squad is good and anyone coming into the team knows his job.

“The
manager was happy and it was about keeping the momentum going. We’ll look to continue that into May for the next game and then for the autumn
qualifiers.”

McCormack could have added a third international goal to his 11th cap but failed to take advantage of a decent chance at the start of the second period.

He said: “When the ball came across from Steven Naismith and Ikechi Anya stepped over it, I fancied myself a
little bit, but I sort of kicked into the ground.

“I didn’t see as much of the ball as I would have liked but to be part of a team which goes to Poland and wins is a big thing for me.”